When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the
word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When they
arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive the
Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come on any of
them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter
and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Acts
8:14-17
This
practice of laying on of hands to receive the Holy Spirit only appears in the
book of Acts. People actually receive
the Holy Spirit at the moment of their salvation.
And you also were
included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your
salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised
Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the
redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1:13-14
In
the book of Acts, the Holy Spirit just arrived at Pentecost (Acts 2) in
Jerusalem and word about the Spirit spread to the others. So people who had believed in Jesus earlier had
not believed with the Holy Spirit bonus yet.
In Acts 8, Peter and John went to Samaria to give them the full upgrade.
Paul
encountered other believers in Corinth.
While Apollos was at Corinth,
Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found
some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit
when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have
not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
So Paul asked, “Then what
baptism did you receive?”
“John’s baptism,” they
replied.
Paul said,
“John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in
the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing
this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul
placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in
tongues and prophesied. Acts
19:1-6
In all
these cases, they were believers, but they did not know anything about the Holy
Spirit. Now they did. It doesn’t need to be a two-step process
today, but it needed to be back then to get everyone fully onboard as all the
information about the Holy Spirit was revealed.